James Cameron’s Surprise Appearance

On Saturday, September 13, DGA members gathered at Real D’s Clarity Theater in Beverly Hills for a special seminar on the fundamental concepts and techniques of 3-D. Entitled Working in 3-D, the event featured several presentations illustrated by 3-D film clips. The seminar opened with a surprise appearance by DGA Award-winning Director James Cameron, who discussed his highly anticipated upcoming feature Avatar which is being shot in 3-D.

Then the scheduled program began with Real D’s Chief Technology Officer Lenny Lipton’s presentation, 3-D Basics for the Director, a primer that explained what directors need to know about depth perception, the elements of 3-D composition, and 3-D projection techniques. 3-D Cinematographer/VFX Supervisor Peter Anderson, ASC (U2 3D; Muppet Vision 3-D) and Converge Entertainment President Tim Staples followed with Real World 3-D Production, which demonstrated what could be done in three days on practical locations with limited lighting and budget using the example of David Arquette’s 3-D short film The Butler’s in Love. Attendees then learned how to communicate their director’s vision to the stereographer in Using Stereo 3-D as a Storytelling Tool with 3-D Stereo VFX Supervisor Chuck Comisky (Avatar; T2 3-D Battle Across Time). The day’s final lecture featured Sony Pictures Imageworks’ Senior Producer, 3-D Stereoscopic Feature Films Buzz Hays (Beowulf; Monster House), who addressed the subject of how to decide whether to actually shoot a film in 3-D or create the effect in the post production phase in his presentation Post-Production for 3-D.